Ministry of Justice

None of the requested data are centrally collated. They could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

None of the requested data are centrally collated. They could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

None of the requested data are centrally collated. They could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS are committed to improving the future prospects of prisoners through comprehensive education and skills provision. Last year, a new Prisoner Education Service was launched which is designed to improve the literacy, numeracy and wider skills of all prisoners who need it and support them to gain qualifications that will increase their employment prospects on release. New contracts include a strengthened specification for high-quality delivery, improved screening and assessment, clearer requirements for support for additional learning needs, and a new Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance service. These new contracts are underpinned by improved digital infrastructure, including the Learning & Work Progress Service and new screening and assessment tools which will help prisoners by reducing repeated assessments and ensuring that information about their progress follows them across the estate.

Education activities in each prison are planned by Heads of Education, Skills and Work who bring teaching expertise into prison leadership to ensure provision meets the needs of the local cohort. Prisoners can access a comprehensive curriculum including reading support, functional skills, digital skills, vocational and technical training, and opportunities to progress to higher-level learning. Governors can use the Dynamic Purchasing System to commission specialist provision that reflects local labour market needs and the requirements of their population. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.

The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS are committed to improving the future prospects of prisoners through comprehensive education and skills provision. Last year, a new Prisoner Education Service was launched which is designed to improve the literacy, numeracy and wider skills of all prisoners who need it and support them to gain qualifications that will increase their employment prospects on release. New contracts include a strengthened specification for high-quality delivery, improved screening and assessment, clearer requirements for support for additional learning needs, and a new Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance service. These new contracts are underpinned by improved digital infrastructure, including the Learning & Work Progress Service and new screening and assessment tools which will help prisoners by reducing repeated assessments and ensuring that information about their progress follows them across the estate.

Education activities in each prison are planned by Heads of Education, Skills and Work who bring teaching expertise into prison leadership to ensure provision meets the needs of the local cohort. Prisoners can access a comprehensive curriculum including reading support, functional skills, digital skills, vocational and technical training, and opportunities to progress to higher-level learning. Governors can use the Dynamic Purchasing System to commission specialist provision that reflects local labour market needs and the requirements of their population. The Ministry of Justice is undertaking a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation through educational activities. The national funding for prison education has not been reduced; it increased by 3% this financial year. However, inflationary pressures across education services have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be directed to Core Education contracts. This has resulted in a national reduction of around 20-25% in Core Education delivery. This reduction is not uniform across the estate, and variation is due to an updated education funding formula, which ensures prison allocations more accurately reflect prison function, capacity and learner need.

Governors continue to have flexibility to commission the education that best meets the needs of their population, and the wider educational offer, such as vocational training in industries settings, further and higher education, libraries, and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance remain in place. We are also working closely with Governors to maximise attendance at education to ensure best value for money and the best outcomes for prisoners. We will monitor delivery and outcomes through contract management and a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.

Suppliers as part of their mobilisation activities have reviewed their organisational structures to ensure that these are responsive to the commissioned delivery requirements, which unfortunately has led to some redundancies. Suppliers are working to support their employees through this period of change. Specific figures relating to the number of redundancies are held by suppliers, rather than the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation through educational activities. The national funding for prison education has not been reduced; it increased by 3% this financial year. However, inflationary pressures across education services have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be directed to Core Education contracts. This has resulted in a national reduction of around 20-25% in Core Education delivery. This reduction is not uniform across the estate, and variation is due to an updated education funding formula, which ensures prison allocations more accurately reflect prison function, capacity and learner need.

Governors continue to have flexibility to commission the education that best meets the needs of their population, and the wider educational offer, such as vocational training in industries settings, further and higher education, libraries, and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance remain in place. We are also working closely with Governors to maximise attendance at education to ensure best value for money and the best outcomes for prisoners. We will monitor delivery and outcomes through contract management and a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.

Suppliers as part of their mobilisation activities have reviewed their organisational structures to ensure that these are responsive to the commissioned delivery requirements, which unfortunately has led to some redundancies. Suppliers are working to support their employees through this period of change. Specific figures relating to the number of redundancies are held by suppliers, rather than the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS has zero tolerance for violence against prison officers and prison staff, including those who work in prison education.

The Education Provider is required to abide by all prison risk assessments and safe systems of work put in place by the Governor to ensure appropriate staff safety. Education Providers have a further responsibility to ensure that all staff are properly trained and carry out their duties in line with Health and Safety Policies, and are required to work with the Governor, including participating in Risk Assessment processes where necessary. There are established routes for escalation of any Safety issues for resolution.

HMPPS offers screening to prisoners upon entry to prison for additional learning needs, including neurodivergent needs. A new Additional Learning Needs screener was introduced in October 2025 as part of the new Prisoner Education Service. This screening helps identify any additional learning needs prisoners may have that might impact their ability to engage with learning opportunities in prison. Healthcare also have a duty to ensure that appropriate reasonable adjustments are in place to enable individuals to access and engage with healthcare services and may also be able to offer advice on specialist reasonable adjustments.

Where additional needs are identified, key information, including any required support or adjustments is recorded on a central digital platform so it is accessible to relevant staff across the prison estate. Neurodiversity Support Managers (NSM) in the prison, are responsible for improving processes to identify and support prisoner needs, and ensuring that neurodivergent prisoners can access education, skills and work opportunities. This whole prison approach, led by NSMs, equips staff with the information they need to support prisoners with appropriate strategies that enable them to access learning and rehabilitative opportunities within prison and prepare for a successful reintegration into the community.

The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the cost effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions for individuals convicted of immigration-related offences. Rehabilitation pathways (including for this cohort) are determined by an individual’s assessed risk and needs, ensuring interventions are targeted and proportionate.

Reoffending more broadly imposes a significant financial burden on the public, costing an estimated £22.7 billion per year (adjusted to 2024/25 prices). Our rehabilitative interventions are delivered in line with the evidence base which suggests that employment and education programmes and substance misuse treatment can reduce the risk of reoffending. For example, offenders who leave custody into employment are up to 9 percentage points less likely to reoffend, and a similar percentage reduction in reoffending for those who have engaged in any form of in-prison education. Similarly, an MoJ experimental statistical report found a 19-percentage point reduction in the 2-year rate of reoffending for offenders who successfully completed treatment compared to those who dropped out.

The Secretary of State has not held discussions with Ministry of Justice trade unions specifically on the experiences of staff in the Ministry of Justice. Engagement with trade unions on workforce matters within the Department takes place through established official level employee relations arrangements.

The Secretary of State has held introductory meetings with all HMPPS recognised trade unions (Prisons and Probation) and has discussed a range of staff related issues brought forward by the respective trade union representatives on behalf of their members.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring support is available for victims, so that those affected by crime, including theft, can access the help they need throughout the justice process.

That is why, in total, the Ministry of Justice will be investing £550 million in victim support services over the next three years – the biggest investment in victim support services to date.

This includes annual grant funding to the 42 Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas across England and Wales, who commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic services based on an assessment of need in their area.

Within this envelope, we will be increasing funding for victim support services year on year, from 2026 to 2029, recognising the need to meet the rising cost pressures of delivery.

The Government accepts and strongly supports the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s (IRTL) recommendation to consider creating a new offence to capture individuals intending to kill multiple people and planning for such attacks. As recognised by the IRTL, this is a complex area of law and will require working through difficult legal and ethical issues to avoid unintended consequences. We are considering carefully the best way to close the gap in the legislation.

I can confirm that I acted as the qualified person for this Freedom of Information Act request.

Injury-related payments are not currently excluded from the division of assets by the court. Instead, the court’s approach to whether such payments are treated as ‘matrimonial’ or ‘non-matrimonial’ will depend on the circumstances of the case.

As part of its 2024 scoping report on financial remedies, the Law Commission considered the court’s wide discretion in dividing assets in financial remedy proceedings, including the treatment of matrimonial and non-matrimonial property.

By Spring, the Government will be consulting on the challenges raised by the Law Commission in its report on financial remedies. The Government will carefully consider these issues as it prepares for consultation.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for a wide range of offences including drug possession offences in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

Data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice does not contain details of a recorded drug dependency for offenders who received a conviction.

Police have the powers needed to divert individuals who commit low-level drug possession offences away from a criminal charge towards consequences that may include a requirement to attend drug educational courses and support, or treatment where needed, to help people make better, safer choices in the future.

Diverting those who use illegal drugs into interventions such as drug treatment services is key to reducing drug misuse, drug related crimes and reoffending. We support the use of Out of Court Resolution (OOCR) powers to ensure that individuals who commit low-level drug possession offences are given the opportunity to change their behaviour by diverting them to meaningful and appropriate interventions.

The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progress Update was published in April 2025, I commissioned a wider review of safeguarding in youth custody to be undertaken by a panel, led by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families. Ensuring the correct safeguards are in place and that staff are properly equipped to be working with children, is all within remit of the panel and it is right we let this conclude. The panel will finalise its recommendations by June 2026. We will respond to its recommendations and this IICSA recommendation in autumn 2026.

The Government rejected recommendation 5 from the Inquiry and will not be introducing legislation. Where physical safety of all children and staff in custody is concerned, it is important that trained staff are able to use these techniques, as a last resort in an emergency, to bring an incident to a safe conclusion.

The Government recognises the particular vulnerabilities of children in custody, which is why staff in the Youth Custody Service continue to be appropriately trained and that there is independent oversight and transparency over all use of these techniques through an Independent Restraint Review Panel.

The Government has been undertaking work to determine the most suitable registration framework for the youth custody estate. A final decision on this had been planned, as set out in the Tackling Child Abuse Progress Update, for March 2026. Since the Progress Update was published in April 2025, I commissioned a wider review of safeguarding in youth custody to be undertaken by a panel, led by the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families. Ensuring the correct safeguards are in place and that staff are properly equipped to be working with children, is all within remit of the panel and it is right we let this conclude. The panel will finalise its recommendations by June 2026. We will respond to its recommendations and this IICSA recommendation in autumn 2026.

The Government rejected recommendation 5 from the Inquiry and will not be introducing legislation. Where physical safety of all children and staff in custody is concerned, it is important that trained staff are able to use these techniques, as a last resort in an emergency, to bring an incident to a safe conclusion.

The Government recognises the particular vulnerabilities of children in custody, which is why staff in the Youth Custody Service continue to be appropriately trained and that there is independent oversight and transparency over all use of these techniques through an Independent Restraint Review Panel.

Reoffending in England and Wales costs taxpayers £22.7 billion per year (adjusted to 24/25 prices). Tackling reoffending is crucial to reducing crime, reducing demand on prison and probation services and protecting the public.

Working across Government, we are taking steps to tackle the root causes of reoffending by investing in a range of interventions which address offenders’ underlying criminogenic needs and support their rehabilitation journey. This includes, but is not limited to, education, employment, accommodation and substance misuse treatment services.

We have launched regional Employment Councils, which for the first time bring businesses together with prisons, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to support prison leavers. We are expanding our community accommodation service to support prison leavers at risk of homelessness by providing up to 12 weeks of temporary accommodation for those under probation supervision. And we have funded Incentivised Substance-Free Living units (ISFLs) in 85 prisons, where prisoners sign a behaviour compact, agree to be regularly drug tested and can access enhanced opportunities compared to a standard wing.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence at Carlton Gardens is his primary residence.

Council tax for 1 Carlton Gardens is paid for personally by its occupant, in line with long-standing government policy.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s residence at Carlton Gardens is his primary residence.

Council tax for 1 Carlton Gardens is paid for personally by its occupant, in line with long-standing government policy.

The Government recognises the importance of victims and survivors being able to seek redress from institutions for sexual abuse suffered during childhood and that redress can take several forms.

The Government is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all victims and survivors of child sexual abuse with a connection to state or non-state institutions.

To support victims in seeking redress, we are removing the three-year limitation period for civil claims in cases of child sexual abuse. The Government is also working to improve awareness of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme through campaigns and consultation.

The Home Office published a Progress Update on Tackling Sexual Abuse in April 2025, where further information can be found.

The table below sets out number of individuals with sentences that terminated in the calendar years between 2021 and 2025, and where there was Unpaid Work completed as part of the sentence itself recorded as having been terminated due to being overturned on appeal:

These data have been gathered from National Delius (the Probation Service case management system).

The Government has committed to undertake a strategic review of the Probation Service in its manifesto. We remain committed to this and will review governance arrangements, looking at local partnerships across England and Wales.

This work will follow implementation of the Sentencing Bill reforms, which will significantly change how the Probation Service operates. Governance arrangements must be designed to enable and support the effective delivery of these reforms. Our priority is to ensure the Probation Service is on a stable footing and performance has improved before undertaking the review.

In the meantime, this Government will continue to strengthen joint working with local partners to reduce reoffending and better protect the public.

The use of remand is a judicial matter and decisions regarding it are up to the judiciary, whose independence from government is well-established. There are well established processes for extending Custody Time Limits. Applications must be approved by independent judges and defendants have the right to oppose any application.

Staffing models in public sector prisons and associated staffing numbers, are reviewed on a routine basis to take account of business changes that may impact on the workload of staff.

The UK applied to re-join the 2007 Lugano Convention in April 2020. This application remains pending as the European Commission stated in a Note Verbale in June 2021 that it was not in a position to consent to UK accession.

The UK Government remains committed to close and effective collaboration with EU and EFTA countries in the area of private international law.  As evidence of this, the UK ratified the 2019 Hague Convention in 2024, to which the EU is also a Party. This now provides recognition and enforcement rules in civil and commercial matters between the UK and the EU and its Member States.

Hague 2019 rules provide greater certainty for businesses, reduce transactional and cross-border litigation costs, and support international trade and investments. Being part of this multilateral framework also encourages businesses to choose the UK’s world-beating courts and legal services for their international litigation, by providing greater predictability as to whether a UK judgment can be recognised and enforced abroad.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of offences including rape and sexual assault in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

Data held centrally contains the sex of the offender where known but does not record if the offender was a transgender woman born as a biological male.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on prosecutions and convictions for a wide range of offences including rape and sexual assault in England and Wales within the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

Data held centrally contains the sex of the offender where known but does not record if the offender was a transgender woman born as a biological male.

HMCTS recognises the significant potential for AI transcription to drive productivity across the courts and tribunals. As such, HMCTS is piloting how automated transcription (using AI) could be used across all courts and tribunals, including criminal courts. This work is one of 15 AI Exemplar projects across Government.

At the start of 2025, HMCTS completed testing of how AI Transcription could be used to enhance efficiency in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber. This work evidenced strong accuracy, and potential efficiency gains achievable through AI-enabled transcription.

In line with HMCTS Responsible AI principles, any work to scale the provision of AI-generated transcripts across the courts and tribunals will establish robust processes for how errors will be a) identified, b) challenged and c) corrected.

Digital Identity policy is in development, with a dedicated team inside the Cabinet Office working to develop the proposals.

Costs in this Spending Review period will be met within the existing Spending Review settlements.

We are inviting the public to have their say in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK. No final decisions will be made until after the consultation.

Latest Criminal Justice Statistics data published to the end of June 2025 shows that for female defendants aged 18 or over:

• In 2023, 3,268 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 68% of all female custodial sentences.

• In 2024, 4,078 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 71% of all female custodial sentences.

• Between January and June 2025, 2,199 women received a custodial sentence of six months or less, representing 71% of all female custodial sentences during this period.

*Please note: The most recent published sentencing data is available up to June 2025.

This Government has committed to halving Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a decade. That is why we are investing £550 million over the next three years for victim and witness support services. The 42 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) across England and Wales receive annual grant funding from the Ministry of Justice victim and witness budget to commission local practical, emotional and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including domestic abuse. This includes ‘core’ funding, which is for PCCs to allocate at their discretion based on their assessment of local need, and funding that is ring-fenced for sexual violence and domestic abuse services. It is for PCCs to decide how much of their funding will be directed to specialist services run by and for the community, and other domestic abuse services.

The Government is committed to improving the capability and confidence of criminal justice practitioners in responding to violence against women and girls (VAWG), and training is embedded across the criminal justice system to support this.

Training is delivered and monitored by the relevant criminal justice organisation or body. For example, probation staff receive a comprehensive national learning offer that includes mandatory and advanced modules on domestic abuse, stalking and safeguarding. CPS prosecutors receive role-appropriate training on VAWG, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to handle these cases effectively. In the criminal courts, we have announced that we will make trauma-informed training focused on domestic and sexual abuse available to all staff employed by HMCTS.

Training for the judiciary and the Bar is delivered independently by the Judicial College and the Bar Standards Board, who set and review their own requirements. To preserve judicial independence, the statutory responsibility for judicial training rests with the Lady Chief Justice.

The Government accepted recommendation 14 from the Inquiry to commission a joint inspection of compliance with the Victims’ Code in relation to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorates have confirmed that the inspection will take place in 2026-27.

Additionally, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 introduces a new duty on criminal justice Inspectorates to consult the Victims’ Commissioner in developing their individual and joint inspection programmes. This measure was commenced in December 2025. This will support a clearer and sharper focus on how victims and survivors are treated across the system, allowing issues to be identified and solved.

The Government is committed to ensuring that victims can access the information and support they need. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 created a framework to monitor criminal justice agencies' compliance with the Victims' Code, including legislative duties for agencies to collect and share information on Code compliance. The framework has not yet been commenced but preparatory work is underway with criminal justice agencies on the underlying data that will support the development of the framework.

We will begin consulting on a new Victims’ Code shortly to ensure that we get the foundations for victims right. Part of the consultation will specifically look at how the Code can better support child victims.

This Government was elected with a landmark mission: to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The ‘Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy’ sets out stronger perpetrator management, including the commitment to nationally rollout Domestic Abuse Protection Orders across all police forces in England and Wales, which is critical in meeting this government ambition.

The Probation Service robustly manages offenders released from custody with a range of tools in the community and can respond to any breaches of licence with recall to prison where appropriate. The Sentencing Bill strengthens this by giving new powers to Probation to prohibit offenders from driving, attending public events and entering pubs, clubs and bars. It also introduces restriction zones, which will limit the movements of serious sexual and violent offenders to a specific geographical area, where appropriate, giving victims the peace of mind they deserve.

Further, regarding Electronic Monitoring (EM), the Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence (DAPOL) pilot operates across eight probation regions, allowing Probation Practitioners to impose electronically monitored licence conditions on eligible prison leavers at the point of release from custody where necessary and proportionate. Conditions may include curfews, exclusion zones, required attendance at specified appointments, and GPS trail monitoring, with multiple applied risk assessments support it. DAPOL can also run alongside Alcohol Monitoring on Licence (AML) where alcohol misuse is linked to risk. Evaluation findings indicate that DAPOL provides reassurance to victims, with Victim Liaison Officers reporting that the ability to evidence breaches quickly helps reduce victim anxiety and strengthens confidence in the justice system.

Probation practitioners follow robust safeguarding practices when considering the use of Electronic Monitoring (EM). Practitioners assess the suitability of an offender’s proposed address covering who resides there, any safeguarding concerns, and proximity to victims. They will not recommend EM where it could increase risk e.g. imposing a curfew to an address that puts the occupants in danger. Informed consent from the main occupier is required for a curfew requirement. Enquiries must be made with police and relevant safeguarding agencies to inform a risk assessment before an EM curfew condition is proposed.

We will continue to expand EM for perpetrators of violence against women and girls, ensuring that public protection and victim safety will remain at the heart of decision making when determining whether to impose EM.

We are rolling-out national trauma-informed training for HMCTS criminal court staff from spring 2026. Staff will be encouraged to undertake the training, particularly where their role involves regular interaction with witnesses and victims.

In May 2025, we announced that we would continue to enable victims of rape and other sexual offences, whose cases were heard in the Crown Court, to apply for free transcripts of the sentencing remarks in their case, on an on-going basis. This followed a one-year pilot which ran from May 2024.

We have taken the following steps to promote the provision:

• Providing the Witness Service, whose role is to support victims and witnesses at court, with an information sheet on the scheme to distribute to any eligible victims

• Publishing a dedicated webpage on Gov.uk

• Sharing information on the scheme at a forum with over 70 national and local stakeholders who work with or represent victims.

• And creating social media posts on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn.

The information requested is routinely published in H M Prison & Probation Service’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication. It is set out in the attached tables.

The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Calls from prison wing payphones and in-cell phones are charged at the same national rates.

Calls to UK landlines:

• 2.48 pence per minute during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday

• 2.20 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Calls to UK Mobiles

• 5.50 pence per minute during the week Sunday to midday Friday

• 3.60 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

The Ministry of Justice has reduced call rates in the public prison estate by negotiating a 20% reduction to all UK landline and UK mobile numbers. These rates have applied since 1 April 2025 and support the Department’s commitment to maintaining family contact.

Source: Ministry of Justice letter to the Justice Committee, July 2025: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48682/documents/255236/default

The information requested is set out in the table below. This table provides only a count of Basic Custody Screenings where care experience was disclosed and does not provide this as a proportion of all BCSs completed over the time period so caution should be applied when considering trends.

Note:

1. The figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the level of detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.

Basic Custody Screening data does not provide a full picture of the number of prisoners disclosing care experience each year, as it does not include data for prisoners who choose to disclose care experience at later points during their time in custody.

We know that people taken into care as children are disproportionately likely to end up in the criminal justice system, with research estimating that 24-31 per cent of the adult prison population spent time in care as children.

We are committed to addressing this disproportionality in England and Wales, both by improving support for people with care experience while in the criminal justice system, and by working with colleagues across government to reduce the number of people with care experience who enter the criminal justice system. As part of this, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) plans to publish a new ‘Supporting Prisoners with Care Experience’ policy framework in spring 2026.

24,264 prisoner leavers released between April 2024 and March 2025 were assessed as posing high or very high risk of harm at the point of release between April 2024 and March 2025. This is 42% of all releases.

Public protection is this Government’s top priority.

Offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions – including exclusion zones, restriction zones and electronic monitoring – and they can be returned to prison if they breach any of these rules, in such a way as to demonstrate that their risk is no longer manageable in the community.

Notes

For information on the definition of ‘release’ in this context, please see the Notes page of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Releases tables which can be found here: prison-releases-Jan-to-Mar-2025.ods.

Information on release has been drawn from the Prison National Offender Management Information System (P-NOMIS). This has been linked to risk of harm information on National Delius (nDelius), the probation case management system.

Where the release could be matched between the two systems, risk of harm is as assessed at release. In cases where the release could not be matched, the risk of harm is drawn from information on NDelius closest to the release date.

Data are drawn from large administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the information collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system due to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Applications for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) are considered by the Gender Recognition Panel, which is a judicial tribunal. There are stringent criteria and a high threshold of evidence required for obtaining a GRC and not everyone who applies is granted one.

The allocation of transgender prisoners is based on a careful assessment of risk. Regardless of whether an individual holds a Gender Recognition Certificate, transgender women with birth genitalia and/or any history of violent or sexual offending cannot be placed in the general women's estate except in exceptional circumstances, where an exemption has been granted by Ministers. No transgender women have received such an exemption under this Government.